Bio

Few music entertainers from North Carolina have accomplished more than Dave Moody. As the driving force behind The Moody Brothers, Dave has led the family band to national recognition and international acclaim. Along the way, the group earned two Grammy® Award Nominations and three International CMA Awards® as this trio of brothers took their Carolina based folk, gospel and rocking country music to audiences around the world. The Moodys have performed often at such distinguished venues as the Grand Old Opry in Nashville, TN, the White House in Washington, DC, Wembly Arena in London, England and Disneyland Paris in France, where they performed for over fifty million guests.

But since 2002, Dave’s accomplishments as a solo artist, producer, and songwriter have been equally impressive. Winning two GMA Dove Awards® (the Christian Music Grammys) in 2005 and 2006, and earning over 20 some Dove nominations for his music, Dave has emerged as a major music industry professional. His wins and nominations as artist, producer and songwriter have placed him in good company when you consider some of the past Dove Award winners in the categories he’s been recognized, such as Glen Campbell, Dolly Parton, Andraé Crouch, Alison Kraus, Randy Travis, Chris Tomlin, Ricky Skaggs, Shirley Caeser, George Jones, Charlie Daniels, Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Oak Ridge Boys, David Crowder Band, Blind Boys of Alabama, and others. Dave recently finished producing a new dual CD release by George Hamilton IV with a who’s who of musical guests, including Charlie Pride, Ricky Skaggs, Pat Boone, Marty Stuart, Gail Davies, George Beverly Shea, Cliff Barrows, Del McCoury, Connie Smith, Bill Anderson, and many others. The album received a 2011 Dove Award nomination.

Now, Dave has turned some of his attention to directing motion pictures and scoring music for film/television. His first endeavor into movies was to write and score the musical motion picture Stuck In The Past, produced by a former Billy Graham associate. In the summer of 2007, he and his son Josh Moody, started Elevating Entertainment Motion Pictures, a boutique film production company focused on producing family-friendly, uplifting and life-inspiring entertainment. The duo produced and directed their first family Christian motion picture, Praise Band: The Movie, based on a story they had written. The company finished its second film in 2010 called No Limit Kids: Much Ado About Middle School, featuring Hollywood veteran Bill Cobbs and Golden Globe Nominee Lee Meriwether.

In just a short time, Dave has emerged as an award winning filmmaker, capturing the “Best Musical Award” at the Creative Arts Film Festival in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada for his music and score of Stuck In The Past. In 2008, Praise Band won “Best Music Film” at the International Christian Film Festival in Irvine, CA and was nominated for “Best Premiere Production” at the Sabaoth Film Festival in Milan, Italy. No Limit Kids has won numerous awards including “Best Feature Film” at the Education Channel’s Independents’ Film Festival (FL), “Best Film for Young Viewers” at Phoenix International Film Festival (AZ), the “Redemptive Storyteller Award” at Regent University (VA), “Best Indie Feature” nomination at the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival (CA), and the film won a 2011 “Silver Telly Award” for excellence in Film Production.

Dave co-directed the animated film Elf Sparkle and the Special Red Dress with a cast of Hollywood “A-list” actors, including John de Lancie, Rob Schnieder, Catherine Hicks, Margaret O’Brien, Jon Walmsley and others. Dave won a 2011 Crystal Award for directing the film at the Yosemite Film Festival in California.

Dave then produced and directed Rusty Whiteners award winning novel and screenplay Season of Miracles, which starred John Schneider, Grayson Russell and Lee Meriwether. The film was released by major studio and distribute Vivendi Entertainment. The Moodys produced Silver Twins written by Larry Silver in Nashville in 2015. Elevating Entertainment inked a deal with Pure Flix in 2017 to distribute the film, as well as other titles in the company’s catalog.

In the summer of 2017, Dave and his family launched a second brand Downbeat Films and produced a new suspense thriller All Light Will End with co-production partners Red Vessel Entertainment, Music City Films and Ghost Horse. The cast for this feature, written by Chris Blake, includes Andy Buckley, Sarah Butler, John Schuck, Sam Jones, Ted Welch, Aaron Munson and Alexandra Harris.

EARLY YEARS

All the Moodys got their start in the music business during the late ‘60s, singing country and gospel music on their parents’ local television show in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dave made his first public appearance at age 4. Their father Dwight L. Moody, Jr. was a fiddle playing Methodist Minister and their mother Katherine Lucille both taught their sons to play many instruments. “Music was everywhere in my family,” Dave says. “It was our life and livelihood.”

At 16, Dave led a folk band that performed at major festivals and theme parks throughout the Carolinas, including Carowinds and Tweetsie Railroad. While attending the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, he developed an educational program for elementary age audiences that taught American history through folk music at schools throughout the state. After college, he taught US History at Independence High School in Charlotte for a few semesters.

But Dave’s teaching career would be cut short as The Moody Brothers began performing widely throughout the Carolinas and recording a series of country music albums for Lamon Records. Their third album, Cotton Eyed Joe, sliced through massive competition in 1985 to win a Grammy Award Nomination for “Best Country Instrumental Performance.”

Suddenly the Moodys were the talk of Nashville and the entire music industry, being nominated in the same category with country giants Chet Atkins, Ricky Skaggs, Doc Watson and the Whites. “It was the phone call that changed our lives,” remembers Dave. “We also felt a little like Sesame Street’s ‘which one of these does not belong’ as the folks we were nominated with were our musical heroes and influences.” On the heals of their nomination, the Moodys begin making guest appearances on the Grand Ole Opry and performing in Europe at music festivals in Switzerland, England, Poland, Italy and Czechoslovakia. Four years later, The Moody Brothers received their second Grammy Award Nomination for an album cut entitled The Great Train Song Medley.

By then, the brothers had truly made a name for themselves in Europe. In 1986, the globe-trotting Moodys scored an International Country Music Award nomination as “Most Promising International Act.” (Note: The International Country Music Awards are voted on by readers of twelve country music magazines from different countries in Europe.) Then, they promptly lived up to that promise by being named ICMA’s “Most Popular International Trio” for the next three years, winning over the Gatlin Brothers, the Whites, and the talented trio of Dolly Parton/Linda Ronstadt/Emmylou Harris.

In 1988, The Moody Brothers traveled again to Czechoslovakia, this time to record the album Friends with the popular Czech group Country Beat. Almost three years prior to the unification of Europe, this was the first time that an American country group had been asked to record an album in a Soviet-bloc country. This historic album was co-released by Supraphon Records throughout Eastern Europe and Lamon Records in the US and Western Europe. Friends went on to earn a Gold Disc Award for selling more than 200,000 copies and also earned The Moody Brothers and the project’s engineers and producers Golden Reel Awards from the Ampex Corporation – a first for a Czechoslovakian record release.

Closer to home, The Moody Brothers served as national spokesmen for the “Take Pride In America” campaign from 1987 to 1992. With their involvement in this public awareness effort, they performed at the White House for President Ronald Reagan and also for President George Bush, who had utilized the Moodys’ talents frequently during his 1988 Presidential campaign. They made regular guest appearances on TNN, PBS and other nationally televised programs.

In 1992, once again Europe became The Moody Brothers’ focus, as Dave and his brothers moved their entire families to France to open Disneyland Paris as part of the cast of the immensely popular Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. The Moodys worked with Oscar winning music composer George Fenton (Gandhi, Cry Freedom, The Fisher King, Groundhog Day, Dangerous Liaisons, Multiplicity, Ghostbusters III, You’ve Got Mail) as together they developed authentic American folk themes to use as part of the musical entertainment of the show. In addition, the brothers also perform their own nightly headline concert series to “standing room only” crowds at Disney Village. During their time there, The Moody Brothers performed for over fifty million guests!

In 1994, the Moodys were featured artist on the very popular compilation CD Country Music for Families released throughout Europe on Disneyland Records. In 1995, they were included on another very popular country music compilation CD entitled Country Express which was released throughout Russia, the Czech Republic and other Eastern European countries. On this record, The Moody Brothers were featured with Nashville recording artists Tim McGraw, Wynonnia, Sawyer Brown, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams Jr, and others.

In 1997, Sound and Media (part of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group of Companies) released a collection of The Moody Brothers’ music entitled The Line Dance Album. The timing of this release was perfect has the American line dance phenomenon had just reached the British audience. The next year, The Line Dance Album II was released along with a four CD box set The Line Dance Collection which featured seventy tracks by the Moodys. This dance series earned The Moody Brothers another Gold Disc Award with sales in the United Kingdom reaching over 100,000 units in 2001. In the summer of 1999, Word Records (UK) released six tracks featuring George Hamilton IV with The Moody Brothers.

CHANGING FOCUS

In 2001, Dave began to focus on his life and the direction he was heading. Having accepted several temporary opportunities to lead worship at churches in Charlotte and Atlanta in preceding years, he started Word On The Street Ministries, using music and the arts to reach people with the message of God’s love. Dave continues to lead teams of musicianaries to Spain, France, Belgium, England, Italy and elsewhere most summers through Word On The Street.

With his renewed focus, came the growth of Lamon Records (the Moodys’ family label since 1962) and Dave’s industry profile, as they begin to develop and support other Christian, Country and Americana artists to reach their musical goals. This led to the label’s raise in the industry, earning over 60 Dove Award nominations and wins for their artists, songwriters and producers. This culminated in 2007, with the label’s eight category nominations for fifteen of their artists, include Dave’s six nominations, where he joined Chris Tomlin and Jars of Clay as the night’s most nominated.

“God has truly blessed my life,” reflects Dave. “At every step of my career, when one door seemed to be closing, another opportunity would present itself. I love singing and playing music! I’m very interested in directing more motion pictures, which comes from my desire to create positive faith-based entertainment. I think, too, at the core I’m just a simple storyteller. So whether that’s through a song or a movie, I want to reach people with a positive message. My wife Susan has been such a strong encourager, and now, when my son and daughter join me on stage in concert or at church, in the studio or on a film set, I know God has truly led me to this point in my life – opening and closing doors at every turn.”

Recently, Dave produced a new dual CD release by George Hamilton IV with a who’s who of musical guests, including Charlie Pride, Ricky Skaggs, Pat Boone, Marty Stuart, Gail Davies, George Beverly Shea, Cliff Barrows, Del McCoury, Connie Smith, Bill Anderson, and many others. The album received a 2011 Dove Award nomination. And he also worked with Buddy Jewell, a #1 Billboard Country Artist, to produce the critically acclaimed album “My Father’s Country.”

“I love working with talented singers and songwriters in a variety of genres … and especially young artists eager and excited about their music,” says Dave.

Today, Dave runs Lamon Records Nashville, a premier indie label distributed by Sony Music Entertainment that is focused on releasing nationally known, regionally relevant and developing new artists. He is also Managing Director of Elevating Entertainment, a boutique film production company focused on family-friend, uplifting and life-inspiring motion picture entertainment, as well as Downbeat Films, an alternative motion picture brand creating and releasing a wide variety of indie feature film genres.

Since the new millennium, a number of opportunities for Dave has continued to open up to share his music and creative talents with others. With his companies based in Nashville, his films released worldwide on DVD and television, and other music and film projects in the pipeline, look for many more exciting things to come from this talented artist, producer, songwriter, and filmmaker.

Dave Moody is a modern day troubadour with an inspiring life story to share! “Music is a wonderful communicator…” says Dave. “… a bridge builder in this modern world of walls. After all, ‘In the beginning, God created…’ So, here’s to more music! More positive stories being told in novels, from the stage, and on screen! And here’s to more bridges being built along the way.”